Unlike Trump?
Boris incites NO ‘Fear’….
But a LOT of noise….
The headline on the cover of Germany’s Stern magazine this week under a photograph of a surprised-looking Boris Johnson captured the sentiment across the European Union that the new prime minister has built his career on seeking to undermine…
While Americans seem unsure what to make of the new British prime minister (“He’s known for making very funny, highly literate, very smart speeches,” a correspondent for U.S. National Public Radio explained to listeners Tuesday, adding that he went to Eton and Oxford and is “absolutely one of Britain’s elite”), Europeans have no illusions about who Johnson really is.
Across the Continent, the reaction to his ascension to the U.K.’s highest political office has been marked more by gallows humor than genuine concern about what his tenure might bring. From Brussels to Berlin, everyone seems to have a personal “best of Boris” list.
There was that time he got fired from the Times for making up a quote about Edward II’s purported pubescent lover. And how about the piece he wrote in the Telegraph a few years later (“Italy fails to measure up on condoms”) in which he falsely claimed that Rome had tried to convince the EU to revise its rules on condoms to accommodate smaller penises? Remember that video of Johnson lunging headlong into the privates of former German national football player Maurizio Gaudino during a charity match?
Even in a political landscape accustomed to the likes of Silvio Berlusconi and Viktor Orbán, Johnson’s outrageous style and Conwayesque relationship with facts make him stick out like his trademark cowlick. But as he showed during his campaign to become prime minister, whether by using a vacuum-packed “kipper” as a stage prop or guzzling beer, Johnson is more than happy to be seen as a clown.
His biggest challenge in dealing with the EU in the coming weeks and months will be to prove there’s more in his repertoire….
image…inews.co.uk
Boris Johnson has given key cabinet roles to leading Brexiteers after becoming the UK’s new prime minister.
Dominic Raab and Priti Patel return to government as foreign secretary and home secretary [≈ Atty-Gen. + Sec. of Homeland Security] respectively.
Sajid Javid has been named as the new chancellor [of the Exchequer ≈ U.S. Sec, of the Treasuty + Dir. of OMB] as more than half of Theresa May’s old cabinet, including leadership rival Jeremy Hunt (foreign sec.), quit or were sacked.
Earlier, Mr Johnson said the Brexit “doomsters and gloomsters” were wrong and the UK would leave on 31 October.
Speaking outside No 10, he said the UK would meet that deadline “no ifs, no buts”, adding: “The buck stops with me.”….
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49102466
¶ Note that (despite significant counter-signals) Boris Johnson has filled two of the traditionally four greatest offices in the land (PM, Chancellor, Home Sec. & Foreign Sec.) with Britons of Asian descent.
Perhaps this is partly intended as a signal that the Tories want to distance themselves from the likes of Nigel Farage, now leader of the Brexit Party and formerly of the UK Independence Party.
Sajid Javid (formerly home sec. & now chancellor) was one of this summer’s five other Tory leadership candidates besides Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt.
i expect Boris. to be just as inept as Trump…